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The life of the non-guaranteed NBA player by Bobby Marks

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  • The life of the non-guaranteed NBA player by Bobby Marks

    Keyser and Toupane have a little bit of guaranteed money but are certainly not locks to make roster out of training camp.

    Planetmars turned me on to Bobby Marks Twitter. It has been an awesome follow. Very informative and gives unique perspective of NBA front office thought process and experience.

    This latest article posted via HoopsHype.com is no exception.

    116. 45. 280. Those three numbers are not the code to a bank vault. They are the total number of players participating in the three NBA summer leagues without a guaranteed contract. That’s right: 441 out of the 544 players participating in the Orlando, Utah and Las Vegas Summer League were looking for the opportunity to land short-term security.

    Landing a guaranteed contract for a fringe player is like winning the golden ticket from Willy Wonka. Going into the 2015-16 season, there are already roughly 400 guaranteed contracts out of a possible 450 roster spots. This means that 441 players this past summer were vying for 50 rosters spots. That doesn’t include the 52 players that have partial or non-guaranteed contracts for the upcoming season. Two out of those 52 are Jordan Clarkson and Hassan Whiteside, who most certainly will remain with the Lakers and Heat, respectively, this year.

    The process of landing a training camp invite starts with summer league.

    Teams are made up of picks from the last draft and rookie roster players from the previous season. The remaining 90 percent of players is a mixed bag of guys from the D-League, undrafted college players and players who competed overseas.

    The only compensation that occurs is a per diem (“food money”) of roughly $127 per day, hotel room and travel expenses. What you earn goes towards eating during the day. Players must also sign a waiver to participate, allowing the team not to be liable in case of injury.

    So let’s recap: $127 per day, hotel expenses plus signing an injury waiver vs. trying to make a NBA team.

    Is it worth it? You bet it is.
    TRAINING CAMP

    Teams are allowed to carry a maximum of 20 players on their roster from July till October 26. That is the date for regular season rosters to be submitted. For many teams, it will mean open competition for roster spots and for others it will be to load up on their D-League squad.

    The D-League training camp will allow players who do not make the NBA in October to have a safety net. Teams with “one-to-one” affiliates can assign up to four players that were waived in training camp to their own D-League club.
    Hello Kyser and Toupane!!!

    The common misconception is that players who sign non-guaranteed contracts to participate in training camp will receive a salary. They don’t. Like summer league, players will receive roughly $127 in per diem, hotel and all travel expenses to take part. The one added bonus is that players are eligible to receive $2,000 in camp compensation per week for roughly four weeks. However, if you make the team, then your training camp compensation gets deducted from your first check on November 15.

    Another added wrinkle for training camp invites is that teams have the right to insert an exhibit into the player’s contract protecting the team if a player is injured. A team must have at least 14 players under contract to be able to do this. If the exhibit is added, teams will only be liable up to $6,000 if a player is injured. Before 2011, teams were fully liable for the player’s salary until he recovered from his injury.
    Ask any front office executive what is the worst part of their job and the majority will tell you it’s cutting a player during training camp. There is nothing worse than releasing a player from a job they love. In my 20 years with the New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets, I was the unfortunate participant in many of those roster cuts. Releasing Williams in 2006 is the one that still haunts me to this day. Williams had worked vigorously to get back on the basketball court, but his injuries wouldn’t allow him to get back to a high level. After Williams was released, I knew that his professional basketball career was over.
    For the players that have endured two practices a day in summer league, traveling commercial to either Orlando, Salt Lake City or Las Vegas, living in a hotel for a month getting ready for training camp and surviving over 20 practices and seven pre-season games, the journey doesn’t end there.

    Ask many players what are the three dates circled on their calendar and they will tell you: October 24, October 26 and January 8. If a player isn’t waived by October 24 at 5 pm then he is guaranteed at least one day’s pay. October 26 signals the day when each team has to set its regular season roster. January 8 at 5 pm is the biggest day in the career of a non-guaranteed player. Once you make it past 5:01 pm, your salary becomes guaranteed for the remainder of the season.

    So for the 200 training camp invites this October: Which lucky few will earn those 14th and 15th roster spots on each of the 30 NBA teams? Who catches the ultimate break and who will head back to Europe or the D-League?
    http://hoopshype.com/2015/08/02/the-...anteed-player/

    Be sure to click link. Lots more information, experiences, and perspective to be found.
    Last edited by mcHAPPY; Mon Aug 3, 2015, 02:40 AM.

  • #2
    Great article. Feel bad for the ones who put in the time, effort and dreams and don't make it.

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    • #3
      KInda knew about the brutal competition but not the details. Enlightening piece. The NBA like the NFL have this steady stream of possible recruits gratis in a way. It is unfortunate that they dont even think it appropriate to cover injury expenses...especially with the medical insurance system in the US.

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      • #4
        Bendit wrote: View Post
        KInda knew about the brutal competition but not the details. Enlightening piece. The NBA like the NFL have this steady stream of possible recruits gratis in a way. It is unfortunate that they dont even think it appropriate to cover injury expenses...especially with the medical insurance system in the US.
        The good thing about the "safety net" that is the one-to-one owned d-league team is that we can cover insurance at that point. Unfortunately it doesn't seem that we can use this same process to get Daniels through training camp and onto the 905s without losing his rights. Or is it possible to just invite 2nd rounders to camp (without a partial/nonguaranteed contract, as they don't seem to get extra money anyway) and assign them to the the d-league after.

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        • #5
          Camp = contract.
          twitter.com/dhackett1565

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